Saturday, December 19, 2009

Tadelakt

Below are two photos of yesterdays work.  This finish is called
"Tadelakt" its an ancient Morrocan finish consisting of Lime and Marble.
Polished with river stones and hard steel.  With a natural blue pigment

3 comments:

Calypso said...

Looking good amigo!

Unknown said...

Mark
Hi. Congratulations...the cob house is looking very fine and cosy. I am planning a similar but more modest structure for sometime in the near future, perhaps 2011. We are living on the outskirts of Xalapa, Veracruz with 5 dogs and a donkey called Mercedes. Also working with vetiver to control soil erosion. We also have a problem with torrents of rainwater forming rivers in the rainy season and the solution is to dig serpentine trenches which of course slow down the speed of the run-off and also allow the water to deposit the loose dirt it brings down (full of nutrients etc from higher up). It is a labour-intensive remedy, but I see that you enjoy a few callouses on the hands and a healthy cardiovascular workout with a pick and a shovel. I am very interested in knowing more about the lime plaster you use. Is this the regular "cal" that you buy in a building materials store?
I can see we have been reading the same books, Ianto Evans' Hand-sculpted house, Jenkins Humanure Book, and probably Kiko Denzer's Bread Oven book. I really enjoyed reading the blog. Best wishes to you and your lovely family. peace in 2010.
Pete Brown.

Mark Grossman said...

the "cal" i am using is the bagged powder, sold all over mexico. i try to buy it as fresh as possible, warm if possible, and immediately put it in water, as the books say, for at least one year.